Any which way

The food network is going to kill me.

So, as some people know we moved into a larger apt. and it’s really, really nice to have more space. It’s like…wow we can have a dinner table and an actual living room. But of course more space means needing more stuff. And another thing, it’s still in the same complex which means the owners/property managers are super cheap and cut corners. We didn’t realize how ghetto they were and to be honest I think one of the reasons we are still with this property is the proximity to downtown and not really having to deal with new neighbors. But that is me bitching.

Anyway, my mention of the ghettoness is our issues with the phone lines. Out of the three phone jacks in the apt. none were working…which is an issue since we rely on the internet for major gaming and general amusement. So we called and told them to fix it…it took close to a month for them to fix it and their solution was so horrifying that it amazes me that people really this dumb…and not in ‘dumb’ sense but in the way that they just don’t care and don’t realize they could make more money off of apts. if they put a tiny bit of effort into these problems. When the guy finally came to fix the internet it took like two days in which I had to sit with him because he wanted to talk…so he asked me if I wanted kids and if I wanted to get married to my partner…totally invasive questions and so traditional…jeez I hate how people figure everyone wants these things. But I guess these questions are normal for most people so maybe I’m just weird. Then on the second day he actually connects the phone line….by running a fucking black cord one inch from the wall moldings with these huge staples and says he’s going to paint the cord…which he didn’t. So now we have this ugly ass cord around half the downstairs walls and the internet is seriously like 90s dial-up speed. Omg…Omfg….dial-up? WTF? am I seriously having to resort to DOS or something?

Ugh so this did not go down well with us. Watching movies on netflix was like watching shows on an old 40s tube tv. And don’t even ask about our gaming speed ::shivers::

So we got cable internet and t.v.

I’m totally bourgeois now but probably not as much as I think. And of course we had to get a new t.v. for the living room and got the new LED screen and a bigger size than Nathan thought we’d get but I’m Salvie…you’re not a true americanized Salvie if you don’t have your huge t.v. So now I’m watching the food network like a…well I won’t say it. I should have been a sailor based on my love for swears. And yes…the t.v. stand is super ugly but Nathan kind of likes it and for now it will do…it was here when we moved in haha.

Anyway, my whole issue is that I’m thinking so much about food now and I’ve been kind of slacking on food since I’ve been knitting and thinking up new ideas. But Thanksgiving is coming up and I’m sort of sick of the Tofurkey roasts. They are good and it’s pretty nice not to really think about cooking much besides taters and stuffing when the roast is pre-made. But this one show I was watching had a pre-cooked ham that was glazed with brown sugar and mustard (plus other goodies) in a pineapple juice bath…and then…omg…and then they pulled it out and attached pineapple slices and cherries to the ham and added more brown sugar and kept spreading on juice every twenty mins or so.

Now my mouth is watering and I’m like sooo thinking I want to do this to a seitan roast. I suppose the idea is the same in the sense of making sure the roast is well hydrated but allowing enough heat to glaze the roast. I’m going to have to experiment though because vegan meats/proteins tend to dry out/cook at around a third of the time as animal meats so I’ll really have to watch it.

I’ve really been neglecting a lot of things though in these past months like emails, blogging, cooking, and I’m sure more things. Knitting has really been taking a forefront to my life. I just finished a bonnet and I’m going to have to make more and take photos. It’s somewhat frustrating to knit because sketching out designs and then knitting them are two different things and the end product might not be what I imagined. It took me two tries to figure out my little washcloth design because the patterns weren’t to my liking or the borders were weird. And two tries doesn’t sound like a lot but when hand knitting different patterns and new ones at that makes it some what laborious and frustrating.

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In other news, we celebrated our fifth year anniversary since our commitment on Halloween. I baked a cheesecake and not to be whatever…but it was awesome!!! I probably should have baked it for ten minutes more but it was superb. I used the recipe from “The Joy of Vegan Baking” which is a really great vegan baking cookbook. I really loved that it used vegan cream cheese instead of mostly silken tofu which is kind of bland. The recipe added lemon juice and zest which really was what made the cake…it made the cake creamy and indulgent dessert while also being somewhat tart and crispy. I used a graham cracker crust which was really hard to find. If anyone is wondering…most graham crackers are made with honey which most vegans don’t consider to be…well…vegan. So I had to buy Amaranth graham crackers which were really good to eat by themselves let alone as a crust. I didn’t get fancy with the cake even though I had been wanting to make a raspberry or pomegranate syrup.

Our anniversary was nice but we’ve had some great memories over the last few months. This summer was fun since we had just moved into our apt. and so we had a few parties or pre-parties. Plus, a friend of ours got married so it was nice celebrate with them. But one of the best memories these few months was the Scissor Sisters concert in Oakland. We stayed in a pretty nice hotel that was a mile from the Fox Theater. It was so funny because we walked there but before I asked the desk manager how far it was and the directions. He thought we were crazy to walk a mile and wanted to call a cab for us but I was all, “No it’s ok, we walk all the time in Santa Cruz”…not that it makes me cool but jeez! one mile is like soo nothing. The hotel was really nice because it was on the water and had a great view. But the concert was so great…the best show I’ve ever seen and the best live singing/music I’ve experienced. It sucked because I’m so short that we had to stand on the stairs for the show because I couldn’t see over those tall people.

So that is the update…and if you ever get sad…fight fire with fire

New Blog

Hi guys,

I haven’t posted in forever and it’s not because I have given up on this blog or forgotten to write. Simply, I’ve been really busy the last few months. We moved apt and have been slowly trying to make it look decent which is a work in progress. I’ve been knitting a lot and having to finish up all the requirements for my business while also cooking and cleaning and basically doing what needs to be done. Plus, I’ve been really into doing puzzles while watching Bones which takes away from my blogging time haha.

Anyway, I have tons of stuff to post but I won’t do it now. I just wanted to let you all know I’ll be making a new blog that is specially geared towards my company and the potential clients who don’t want to read about my personal life stuff. I’ll be sure to link the blog both on this post and on my blogroll. Hope that everyone is doing well and sorry for not updating for so long!

Update: Looks like wordpress.com won’t allow the etsy widget so I gotta build one through wordpress.org. At least that is what the etsy site is saying. I’ll try to finish it today but I haven’t had to build this kind of stuff in a long time so I’m rusty haha

 

I’m kind of busy

So I’m a nerd.

Hard core.

Seriously, two days out of my week are dedicated to raiding with my group. I lead one of the days so I’m awesome. I’ve never actually been with a group that is run by a RL (real life) girl/woman so I do feel a bit cool that I’m a girl raid leader (also RL). Raids are an online gaming thing. Most people run with guilds which are a group of people who are all together like a club. So all the ‘club’ members meet at a certain time and day to defeat bosses and monsters, etc. Of course it’s more complicated than this and way more nerdy but I love it. Originally, another guy ran the raid but random members joked that they wanted Raid Leader status and eventually I became the regular raid leader. So now I gotta know all my fights, what most classes do, and group utility. And, not to sound lame, I feel really cool doing it. I don’t know many female toons that play; let alone lead a raid and recruit people. So I feel important. Especially since I run a Pug (Pick Up Group) which isn’t a guild run, aka basically random people who band together for that specific raid. It’s harder since people don’t feel like they have to show up since there isn’t the pressure or obligation that guilds (aka clubs) have.

Anyway, tonight was horrible. They did a patch in the game and some of my regulars couldn’t come so I got screwed. Ack, so stressful leading this stuff. But I love talking to some of the people b/c they’re interesting and help me lead better and can actually talk about some interesting Real Life stuff. So nerdy but hey, I don’t try to assume that I’m cool…damn hipsters.

I love online gaming even though it can be really racist, sexist, and generally everything -ist. I’ve had to tell off people for being : racist against “Mexicans” (aka all latinos), homophobic, and generally just mean. It’s amazing that the internet can provide an area of anonymity in which people can throw out all social conduct. People will call others: fat asses, stupid/retards, gay, girls, etc. It’s horrible but sometimes….if you try hard enough…you can find decent people who are respectful even if they don’t always agree with you. So I think it’s an interesting space to explore and I’m a full blown nerd. I love cyberspace.

Anyway, my raid this week was horrible b/c I had to find a few new people b/c some couldn’t come. But one of my regulars logged in later and we got to chatting. I mentioned to him (haha all his toons are females too…another interesting aspect…many ‘girl’ characters are often played by men) a show called “The Guild” (watchtheguild.com I think) and he didn’t know it. It’s a small series that is based off of World of Warcraft and super funny….at least if you know anything about online gaming. And he laughed and told me the creators did this song called ‘Do you wanna date my Avatar”. It’s pretty awesome and so sexy. I wish I could be an Online character

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In other news, I’m pretty sure we’re moving….

To an apt in the same building hehe. It’s so cool looking and has a spiral staircase. I gotta call the property manager tomorrow to ‘for sure’ stake claim on it but she pretty much told me that we could have it if we wanted. My mom gave a great point in that I’ll have way more work space for my business. Right now…I’m pretty confined to my chair and I have to lay all my patterns, books, and yarn all over my computer desk. So the space will help greatly. Plus the kitties will have so much more room to run around and not annoy me with their pleas for hugs and kisses.

Seriously, I don’t know why people think cats aren’t that affectionate. Our cats make us hold them like babies all the time, they make us snuggle with them, give them belly rubs, and give them kisses with their wet noses. I’m not making this up. They practically force it on us lol.

Anyway, the apt. looks cool and I’ll take pics if we do get it. We’re going to bribe friends with booze to help us move the heavy stuff lol. I’m really excited too because we’ll actually have room to have people spend the night. Our bird, Voxie, won’t be able to have her own room anymore but she has a huge cage. Worse case scenerio, we’ll get a Cockatiel to be her friend since they can’t mate.

If we do get the apt. we won’t be near the trashy people anymore especially since it’s an inside apt. And it’s two stories so our lame neighbors won’t complain if we play music loudly at midnight on a monday. It bothers us because we don’t have a Mon-Fri job that is 9-5.  I’m not saying those kind of jobs are bad but I think it’s lame that our neighbors (it’s the couple next door) expect us to listen to their parties on the “weekends” (aka friday-sunday) when our workdays end on Saturday. I mean…it’s a compact apt building and why should they get to play music and be loud during fri-sun when some of us don’t have the same work week? Sorry, but if they want to play music a bit loud until 1Am on a sunday then we should be able to do the same since we have a different ‘weekend’.

Bah, I’m probably just in bitch mode. I’m gunna pms soon but still…I think I have a valid point.

So ya, I can’t wait to invite my family up to our prospective apt b/c I hate that we can’t ever have people over b/c of our lame apt set up. Our bird will be mad that she doesn’t get an entire room to herself but she has a pretty big cage. The kitchen is small but I can work with that. It’s the upper floor that makes that apt. I’m so excited…I hope we get it because this post will be stupid if we don’t. anyway, gunna post this awesome song and maybe a clip of ‘the guild’. so funny.

Take care and eat yummy food

I’m sailing into the sunrise

Been buying stuff for our boat trip.

Super fun but stressful as well. Only posting a nice song since I have so much to do.

so much fun

so i gave my money info to the rep for my yarn order and was expecting my yarn to come in on Friday. They lost my info and didn’t call me til this Wednesday and called them today and had to give them my info. So gotta wait another week for my yarn…so lame and really don’t know why they set up accounts on the phone if they lose my card info and don’t call until a week later. Lame since I gotta now wait another week for my yarn…push back on my company now. ::sigh::

Yay for vegan shoes

Obviously, this post will have nothing important besides shoes.

Just warning people who might be expecting food or some political rants about stupid people and the government…well maybe a little now that I think about it.

So let’s see…my business is slowly but steadily pulling together. Good thing I’m not opening a store because I’d be past my opening deadline. I blame the govt. since it took 3 attempts to send me my stupid sellers permit and when they did the receptionist wrote my name wrong…Lirisa…FFS I spelled my name out for her and she had all the information in front of her on the computer screen. I was really about to go ballistic because I was scared that the permit was also going to be under my misspelled name which I’d have to send back since I don’t want the IRS showing up thinking I’m leeching off of my own Social Security.

I’ve ordered my yarn and I’m totally excited about it and apparently I’m on first name basis with the West Coast Rep. So Cindy and I are bffs and I felt really weird being all professional because I’m anything but professional. My stupid new voicemail is super professional and I feel like a sellout. And it’s pretty boring and I actually redid it a million times because I felt like I’d say things too slowly or too quickly and then I’d start giggling because who would have thought I’d go into business? Of course I added some nerdiness into the message so for all who know me you can call if you’re interested and I’ll ignore you until you leave a message just so you can hear it.

I gotta reinstall my photoshop and get my logo set up. I’ve done some sketches and pretty certain I know which one I like best. I’ve actually been getting back into drawing and been watching anime which just fuels my drawing habit. I’ve always been a doodler which Nathan always thinks is funny because his papers always look super nice and clean and my papers (from docs to receipts) are littered with cats, little anime drawings, flowers and if they survive that I usually turn them into little origami cranes. I think I’m a hand oriented person. Maybe that is why I like crafts and now pursuing a part time (maybe eventually full time) career in knitting. I’m a picky eater so I don’t think that at this point I can make my business full time since Nathan also gets off work late so we’d be eating dinner so late if I asked him to cook. He actually really helped me learn how to cook in the early stages because I was a baker more than a cook and followed recipes to a fault. The end results were always a bit bland so he helped me understand how to add spices or other things to cater to our tastes. I used to think baking as really rigid but now that I’ve read more and baked more extensively (ok my puff pastry needs more work) I’ve realized that baking is quite close to cooking. Some ingredients stay the same and when dealing with baking powder and stuff you gotta mix it rather quickly with the liquids but there is quite a bit of room to experiment. Speaking of baking…I got a bunch of cherries last week and I gotta make some cherry tarts or a pie. Mmm I love cherries.

Anyway, let’s see what else is on my mind. Our apt complex is slowly turning into white trash central. And not in a good way. Seriously…I’m so sick of these jerks yelling constantly…can’t they just pick up their stupid dog instead of yelling at it for 10min? Or how about you not yell to the neighbors who are 20ft away that you’re serving up cocktails? Jeez just walk over to them and mention that you’re having a get together and walk back. And I’m kind of getting scared for my cats because there is this one guy who every time I hear him on his cell he’s practically punching the other person on the other end. I’m scared he’ll spit on our cats or punch them. And I’m being totally serious…A common convo that I get the pleasure of hearing, “Shut the fuck up, I don’t need this shit with the cops when I’m trying to sell weed and I don’t need this shit about them watching me…” etc. Like seriously? I’ve been super happy the last year because our neighbors were nice and respectful (omg I’m going soft). But really…I don’t care if people have parties or do drugs but I don’t want to listen to all this yelling at 4pm about crap and Oh another peeve…they all park in the driveway when the rest of us have to pay for the yearly street permit. If half of us have to pay for the permit they should too because it’s not a bank breaker and it blocks our driveway when they park like jerks and we can’t get our bikes through. Nathan actually ripped his pants trying to get by the cars and he joked he should have keyed their cars. Maybe we’ll stick potatoes in their exhaust pipe. Well, now I can’t since this might be used as evidence…ah my criminal career is slowly dying.

I haven’t posted in so long that I feel like I gotta write so much. I’ve been reading the Three Musketeers and it’s so good! I’m really disappointed that the disney movie from the 90s is so not close to the book. It’s one of my favorites…god Tim Curry and Oliver Platt in one movie?!? So reading the book I was kind of blindsided on how different it is. I guess that’s what I get for being a disney loyalist. I’m kind of making this list of names for my imaginary children and now the musketeers are on that list. Athos, Aramis, and Porthos…although I can’t do Porthos since they’d nickname him Portly especially if we move to the UK. I really want Nikola after Nikola Tesla but then they’d nickname him Nick and I hate that name. Sorry for the Nicks out there I know it’s stupid but it’s something I picked up from my Carranza side…gotta pick names that have good nicknames because otherwise you’ll have kids with embarrassing nicknames. Grr, and at work Nathan often goes by as Nate and it drives me insane because I hate that version of his name. Not that I call him Nathan or Nathaniel in general since I usually give him one of hundreds pet names…I’m a sap I know.

Anyway, some subdued political stuff…People should check out Greenpeace and sign a petition to Pres. Obama to urge him to not agree to the debate of opening up commercial whale hunting. I already did and I think right now we are a bit short of fulfilling their goal. I have a strong anthropological background not because of my time at the university but because of my parents so, saying that, I understand some communities should have the right to whale if it is sustainable and historically cultural. But I think that many do it possibly because it may be the few options of employment and/or because there is so much money to be made. I personalized my message by mentioning that his daughter has been said by him that she wants to know what he is doing to save the tigers and so I think whales should also be on that list including all the living creatures on this planet from plants to the genius creating new technology. I know it’s sappy but, really, watching Star Trek a few weeks ago and watching them save the whales really reminded me of how far we’ve come and how the idea of saving one species was relatively new and yet still today people don’t seem to think about animals and plants as having a right to live. I joked that I got conned into donating 15USD a month to greenpeace but really…we spend at least 30USD on our online game so half that amount to me seems like a worthy expense. I always remember the Dodo from Alice in Wonderland and I’ve always been so annoyed that I never got the chance to see that bird because they were killed off. And I remember driving down the coast when I was younger and watching for the whale spouts and dolphins jumping in the air. I’m such a bleeding heart haha.

But anyway, I know some may not agree with the practices of Greenpeace or Peta (even I have some issues with Peta) but something like breaking the decades-long pact of not doing commercial whaling seems to me as if we’re reverting to the dark ages. We can’t rely on oil forever…maybe we could eventually make fuel off of poop and since some whales are fairly large maybe we could track whales and collect their poop? We shouldn’t cage them in though..I know it sounds stupid but isn’t that what a lot of old fertilizer was? poop and stuff? My point being…animals are constantly battling for survival and often just trying to avoid being killed through our transportation whether it be air, ground, or water. The other day when I was crossing the road to our street  I saw this ran over bird whose brain was exploded all over the road and I know it was some of its brain since it started at the head. There is no way a biker could have hit the bird so it probably was a slow bird that got run over. And the fucked up part was that I didn’t even try to pick up its body and move it somewhere…I felt like such a bitch…leaving its body because I had groceries on my bike and was scared that someone might steal my bike and food while trying to stop traffic for this dead bird.

Two other issues. The first one is short…I hope people are still reading up on the Haiti situation at least to recognize how so many countries and communities in the world need help. It’s why I don’t mind living in a studio because I remember that there are those who don’t even have the option of food everyday or health care and although I’m currently not under health care insurance I still can pay for it privately. The other issue the huge oil spill in the gulf. I really hope people realize how tragic and wasteful this entire incident has been. I’m not even sure if that oil can be collected and used but imagine how many animals are being threatened right now, the impact on the environment, and the impact on communities whom rely on the sea for their income. Plus, how much of our tax dollars are going into paying for this clean up when we could have spent the money on finding alternative energy sources. Just a thought.

I suppose I should end this post since I write so much as it is. Gunna post Nathan’s shoes and mine. Honestly…I’m really protective of cool stuff that I find so I might not share where I got my shoes because I don’t want to share how cute they are haha. I’ll try to post pics of us wearing our shoes but it might not be until the cruise in july. First up are Nathan’s shoes: loafers (which we haven’t ordered yet) and his dress shoes then mine Anyway, take care and eat yummy food.

P.S. For those who haven’t seen Paprika….going to link/post a great intro to it. This movie is in my top ten of all time for its creativity.

Apples and Peanut butter

Mmm. I <3 Apples and Peanut butter.

Nathan thinks it’s gross so I’ve been forcing him to eat a bite whenever I eat some just to slowly break his will. I love the creamy butter with the crisp, crunch of the apple and the little peanuts that are on top. Mmm….I love texture too much.

Anyway, I just got finished reading this article about the regulation of organic foods. Check it out, short but a bit interesting. I see tons of articles on Yahoo that go on and on about which products to buy organic and which to skip and I find it really interesting how organic food is marketed. As much as I like to think I’m not a snob I probably am. I’m willing to pay pretty much any price for organic and fair trade but it’s not like I’m some millionaire either.

I suppose we have the luxury of buying high end food because of where we live and because we’re only feeding ourselves (plus our animals). But I mean, we don’t have kids which can really impact families in regards to spending which is why we should all have cats or dogs instead haha jk.

I don’t know, maybe I am a snob….I went a week without bananas because our local market was out of the fair trade brand and I had accidentally bought Dole bananas the week before. I was so freaked out when I realized my mistake because the market always has fair trade bananas and yet I still felt conflicted because either way people (workers) need jobs to survive but then I feel like if I give into that mentality then I’m being a complacent consumer who could change how products are sold, produced, etc just by my choices.

So that is my pretty much half the reason why I justify my organic/fair trade and somewhat local choices in food. But after reading the article I thought about the other reason(s) why I chose these products and it’s been really bothering me that no one points it out. I keep seeing articles that say we don’t need to buy organic potatoes or garlic or whatever it is although the lists always vary and half the time I think they’re crap.

I wonder why the organic movement doesn’t stress the importance of buying organic not only for our bodies but also for the benefit of the earth and animals. I don’t buy organic just for myself but also because I imagine all the horrible chemicals that have and still impact the world. I remember sitting in my Environmental Studies class in HS and learning about DDT and how eagles couldn’t reproduce because their egg shells were so thin that the the chicks couldn’t survive before they could hatch. And ya, this is where the whole snob thing comes in because I can sit here and say I buy all the organic stuff but that isn’t my point really. I mean we buy electronics  and who knows about some of our other items that have major impact on the world, animals, and people so that is why I try to keep in mind my own lack of concern.

I suppose what bugs me is that the organic movement seems really self absorbed in regards to humanity. We’re only concerned about organic food and pesticides because it could give us cancer but who cares about the fact that the whales are going to be extinct in the 23rd century and Capt. Kirk will have to fly around the sun to land in 1980 San Francisco… Well, actually maybe it’s not too far fetched since I think the ban on whaling is going to be disputed again in the summer which could be horrible for the whales that have been protected for decades…not that is has stopped countries from killing whales…ugh

Anyway, I suppose my question is why does the organic movement (and similar ones) focus so much on our bodies? Is it because it’s easier to scare people into caring about what is going into their bodies rather than trying to get people to care about the earth and themselves? Granted I’m not trying to say that the movement(s) are using scare tactics but I think fear does play into it when my conventional tomatoes might give me brain cancer or something. Maybe I just feel like the idea of organic/fair trade is becoming a bit shallow or not thought about. I’m sure lots of people have to pick which items they buy are organic or not because of their income and family size but I still think we should think about it in a bigger context. Like, maybe people can only afford organic apples but not potatoes but it shouldn’t just be because of what they put in their bodies because we’re putting loads of chemicals into the earth which supports us.

So that is my subdued rant. It’s a bit early for me to get too annoyed. And I hope I got my point across…I’m really horrible with that. I tend to give a lot of points but my main arguments sometimes don’t come through.

Nothing new to post really but I’m pretty excited that we got our yoga mats last week. I found this really awesome website called Gaiam months ago and found some cheap eco-friendly mats. I think ours were 20USD per mat which seems pretty reasonable. I totally want their 400USD sheets or whatever the price is because I’m a sucker and I love sheets to begin with. My favorite hobby is sleeping after all.  Anyway, so now that we got our mats we’ve been doing this Yoga/pilates workout and it’s so nice that we can stream our Netflix to the t.v.

I feel so lame but I know that we would never make it to the yoga center here in town. With Nathan’s work schedule and our tendency to work out at different times each week…I just don’t think we’d do well trying to fit in classes…so we’re doing it at home. To be honest, the first few minutes has us giggling for feeling so lame doing these yoga moves in our home but then the moves get harder and the next thing we know Yoga is kicking our asses. Seriously, the first time we did it we were recovering the entire week. I didn’t even know I had muscles in some of those places. I must say that some of the chicks following the instructor have huge guns. Omg, I don’t know what they’re doing but I’m pretty sure they could snap my neck by just flexing.

So we did yoga twice this week…it’s like a 40min video and it’s kind of nice to alternate between that and the machine. We’re so exciting.

The only other thing is that I’m getting really impatient for my seller’s permit. Gotta call them and ask what is going on. I can’t wait to buy all my yarn and I’ve been wanting to do some projects. Right now I’m taking a break from one of my prototype designs which needs some work so I’ve been working on Nathan’s socks. I was supposed to have started them 4 months ago. They’re coming a long nicely but I got almost no work done yesterday because I just discovered the show Better Off Ted. Omg so funny. And it’s weird because I thought Portia de Rossi kind of sucked in Arrested Development. I don’t know…everyone thinks I’m crazy….but I just didn’t think she pulled off that character. But in this new show I think she kills it…well the whole cast is awesome but I totally wonder why I didn’t like her in AD…maybe it was the writing or maybe I just couldn’t see her as being shallow and vain or something. Another mystery unsolved.

Glad to have wasted people’s time on my thoughts…haha. Anyway, I best be off to catch my bus. I should post soon but not sure if I will. Take care and eat yummy food.

April Showers

So I haven’t posted in quite awhile since I’ve been busy turning in forms for my ‘business’ (sounds so weird still). And busing has really disrupted my schedule It’s really quite nice not to drive but I now have to be more mindful of my time and am still figuring out when I should do certain activities in order to save time or maximize my time for knitting. My cooking has gone way down but I’m happy to say that I’m picking it up slowly but surely now that I’m starting to form some semblance of a pattern.

It’s funny because Nathan always thought my cooking was over the top and he didn’t quite get why I spent so much time in the kitchen….until I stopped cooking so much and was forcing bean and rice, sandwiches, and our pizza twice a week. He even came up with a nickname for beans and rice….Beans & Boring. So now he’s begging me to cook like I used to and I feel all smug about it. Ha!  that is why we need so much food in the fridge! it’s not useless! or the fact that we have no cabinet space because of all my ingredients and cookware! Hehe at least he admits defeat.

Anyway, I’ll probably be setting up another blog for my knitting experiences and business and it will so boring since I won’t be posting my rants since I have to be all nice for clients. Lame I know. Let’s see….what else. O.o got an iphone which is just awesome and I feel so cool. I’d take a picture of it but that seems a bit pathetic of me.

It was Nathan’s birthday yesterday so I busted out cookware and slaved over the oven…well not really only spent about 2.5hrs, maybe 3, making his food. He wanted tacos and noodles but we couldn’t possibly eat it all, or want to, so I decided on noodles. Noodles wouldn’t take so long but I have to deep fry the tofu which can take a while. I really need to re-season my wok but I’ve been lazy. Anyway, prior to making noodles I started on making a Chocolate Silken Mousse Cake from My Sweet Vegan. It sounded so awesome and looked great in the book that I thought I’d try it out.

So I had bought a 9inch springform pan, I keep wanting to call it springfoam, a small offset spatula, and a cake server thingy

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O.o looks so cool. I had another one that I was going to buy but the lady at ChefWorks totally messed it up…seriously, she works at a cooking store and she totally didn’t know how to work it but kept insisting that someone messed it up. I had been using it before and it was perfectly fine and functional and she proceeds to turn the bottom upside down and then wonders why it doesn’t fit. I felt too bad for her so I just let her assume that someone else had messed it up even though it had been working before she touched it. Oh well, I made sure to not let her get a hold of my new pan haha.

The thing I love about this cake is that there is no actual cooking involved. I’ve never had a mousse before so I’m not sure if those are baked. I’ll have to look it up after this post. So the recipe called for extra firm silken tofu but I didn’t want to use the vacuum packed tofu since it sort of creeps me out. I do use it in my pumpkin pie but since this cake wasn’t going to be baked I wasn’t sure if it would taste differently. So I went with the water packed tofu and I think I should have set it on some paper towels to get rid of more of the water. I just simply squeezed it before tossing it into the food processor.

For people working with blended tofu I would totally recommend using a blender. I actually use a blender for my pumpkin pie but I thought that since I was adding so much tofu it would blend really quickly. Ugh I never learn since I ended up having to sit there for 5 minutes making sure the tofu was completely smooth. Maybe my food processor is a bit big which makes it harder for all the chunks to smooth out but I find that generally blenders work faster for this sort of thing. Anyway, it was my first time using light corn syrup which used about 1/4cup for the crust and 1 Tbs for the filling. I picked up a bottle of it at Safeway and it was the 33% reduced calories which is nice since I didn’t particularly want to use it in the first place. The crust used Almond Meal which was a first for me also and gave a really interesting texture to the cake. I think it worked really well and I love texture in food. It’s probably one of the best things about eating. I love this vegan ice cream company that makes some really great ice creams like mocha almond fudge and a peanut butter one…mm texture.

Anyway, So I whipped everything up, melted the chocolate, and then added it to the tofu mixture. Poured it into the cake pan and smoothed it over with the spatula. Set it to chill for 3 hours.

Crappy pics I know but the metal is pretty reflective and I didn’t bother turning off the flash. The cake wasn’t easy to smooth out but I figured since I was topping it off with shaved chocolate it wouldn’t matter too much. After I put the cake in the fridge I started on making chocolate leaves. I melted some more chocolate, about 2-3 oz, and let it cool a bit. I tried using my pastry brush but the silicon ‘hairs’ were too big and really didn’t work. So I used the offset spatula again with much better results. Maybe I’m weird but making chocolate leaves really isn’t as easy as it seems. I think they turned out rather cool looking but not nearly as perfect as Martha Stewart’s version. Le sigh.

I really should have taken pictures of the leaves on the pink spoon since those ones looked much better. Anyway, after coating them with chocolate I set them in the freezer for 20min since I sort of forgot about them. Stewart recommends using kitchen tweezers to separate them but really…who has kitchen tweezers? Since the chocolate melts rather quickly if you’re touching the leaves I used a fork to guide the chocolate away from the actual mint leaves. Stuck them on a plate and put them in the fridge until dessert time. Now, before I post the pics of the end results I must warn others who try this recipe that the cake is really thick and it was not easy to lift from the rest of the cake. This is why I’m wondering if I should have tried to get rid of more of the water in the tofu prior to blending but oh well. Personally, it was really really yummy but it didn’t firm up as much as I had hoped and looked to me a bit like pudding with a crust. Still excellent and I can’t wait to eat some more tonight. I shaved some chocolate from a chocolate bar (had rice milk instead of cow milk), arranged the mint and chocolate leaves and added some raspberries. I must say that the berries really added a new dimension to the cake. We like chocolate but this chocolate heavy cake really was balanced by the raspberries that cut the sweetness and added a sweet but tart finish. Mmm. I want some more cake now just thinking about it. That’s the only down side of making cakes and pies….we often can’t finish them off before they spoil but at least Nathan got a nice dessert. Anyway, I’ll post the pic now.

I like the second pic better but I thought I’d post both either way. See what I mean about it looking a bit like pudding with a crust? Still totally yummy. I’m kind of bummed that his presents didn’t come on time but they should show up on Monday. We celebrate birthday week really so it’s all okay.

Let’s see, getting some corn in at the markets which is nice as well as some green beans. I’m thinking of busting out the BBQ this weekend….well our weekends aren’t the same as most people’s. Anyway, I’m really craving some seitan kabobs with a side of baked green beans and corn. mmm so tasty.

Well, I’ll post more soon, take care and eat yummy food.

i had a dream i was eating chicken

Omg, so mad….just got an email from the vegan shoe company telling me Nathan’s shoes won’t becoming in b/c they ‘just’ found out that the company doesn’t make them in that size anymore…

Seriously, 7months later and they figure this out? Now I gotta go shopping for shoes again. Sometimes I hate being vegan haha.

Sabre or Sabré?

So, I know I tend to go off in posts because I’m kind of passionate about issues I feel strongly about.

God, sometimes I feel like I should check myself but then I remember one of my professors. She told us that we should be more angry…in a way I think she was telling us not to be complacent and just take it. I can’t remember what country she was from but I know she was from S.America and she would tell us how when her people were upset they’d burn buses and trashcans out of anger…I’m not saying we should be destroying property but I do believe in what she meant…that we should be angry and that there is nothing wrong with being angry in regards to injustices, hypocrisy, exploitation, etc.

Anyway, I have so much to write about but I won’t do it all in this post. I’ll mainly focus on more positive things. One of my new resolutions for the new year is to minimize my carbon/global footprint which means not driving. I haven’t driven for over a month…although I do admit I drove on Saturday for about a 1 mile round trip but I think that is pretty good in my opinion. I’ve been taking the bus, riding my bike, and walking everywhere. According to Google maps (omg I can’t believe I used that website but it was linked to our local metro bus website) I don’t really save much on gas since our car is really gas efficient. But then I got to thinking….there were at least 10 people on the bus at the time which means 10 less cars on the road that decreases the amount of idle gas that is being spent during stop lights/signs….or just fuel inefficiency. So even if my car is good at saving gas there are lots of cars that aren’t…and still…10 less cars mean less traffic and less pollution. It’s sort of a pain to look up the times but the rewards are walking more (more exercise) and saving the world.

Although I really hate our local pedestrians…seriously, if there is a lot of traffic and lots of pedestrians I tend to let cars go by and then walk with the cars that are parallel to me to make it easier for drivers. But so many people just walk when they could wait a few seconds and don’t care about traffic. On top of that they walk so damn slow. I tend to power walk because I like to get places fast…which is why I carry handkerchiefs b/c I’m always sweaty. But anyway, I always walk quickly across crosswalks because I don’t think I’m above others and should demand that drivers wait for me to walk my slow ass across the street. But so many people walk so slow and talk like the world revolves around them. Seriously, I was mentally telling the bus driver to run them over.

Oh and that is another thing. I like swears. I know it’s not refined or lady-like but I love swears. Sure, in polite society I don’t swear but I think these words have a place in our society. Even if I made up a new one word it would eventually become ‘bad’. Like….douche….it used to only refer to feminine products but now has a new meaning…just like stupid,idiot, retard, moron…etc but they can have different contexts too. When I think of ‘stupid humans’ I’m thinking about people who are smart but don’t give a damn about the world…they don’t see beyond what is in their direct vision…they don’t consider the poor and suffering…but in most contexts it means someone of ‘limited’ intelligence…which is really questionable b/c what does intelligence really mean? Someone can be a harvard graduate and fuck over thousands of people through chemical exposure through their company and they’re seen as god-like. And yes…I didn’t capitalize harvard b/c they can all screw themselves and their elitist educational system.

Anyway, positive…positive. working on my business but it’s a slow process since I’ve been doing so much busing/walking/domestic stuff and home improvements. Seriously, I asked the guy at the hardware store how to remove the glued-on handle and track of my drawer and he tole me the best way was to use a razor to cut the glue, then sand the glue off and then properly install the hardware…fun..I’ve begun doing it but cutting through glue that is super old is not easy. I think those home improvement shows should hire me b/c I know so much at this point haha. But yes, still organizing my business and I’m excited.

Let’s see..we finally got our curtains and put them up. I actually used the drill! I wanted Nathan to use it but then I thought, “I should do it because I’m just as capable”. But, well I loaded the bit correctly but I hit a hard part and thought it was a pipe so I asked Nathan to finish it. He told me I did a good job but that I had hit a stud and not a pipe so I could have finished it myself if I hadn’t been so nervous. Well, I didn’t finish putting up the curtain rods but at least I know now what I did wrong…he pointed out the indications of pipes vs. wood but I still did it…sort of!

I painted the kitchen awhile ago and it is so awesome. Before we got the curtains our neighbors (how snoopy) all told us how the color looked great. I like to think of it as Mexican/S.Western/Salvadoran. I really like yellow Also, I’ll be posting my grandma making her awesome sweet potatoes and my crappy tofu frittata. I used silken tofu and followed the recipe but I think firm tofu would have been better.

Almost forgot, I made Pollo Asado with fake chicken strips which turned out ok but not as great as my Seitan Asado tacos…Also used my Mr. Bento for Nathan. Tortilla soup, Spanish rice, Beans, and condiments. Mr. Bento kept the food really warm and Nathan had a great lunch

Omg, I almost forgot the point of this post….Sabre vs. Sabré? So the second most recent episode of The Office had to do with the new company Sabre taking over. And the employees thought the company was pronounced Sabré. In reality, the company was called Saber…or Sabre by english terms. It was funny because I thought of it in the spanish sense and Nathan thought of it in the english sense. But we both didn’t mention it until a day later. I was joking to Nathan how stupid it was that the company was named Sabre when it should have been said as Sabré. He looked at me like I was an alien…Sabré? No it’s Sabre ( like Saber) and I said…’no it’s Sabré!!’ We were both laughing at the episode for totally different reasons. I interpreted it in the spanish sense and he understood it in the english sense. So we’re still arguing over which version is right…sabre or sabré.

I’ve stated before that I have issues with words for this reason. I don’t really know the rules to words…sometimes words seem more spanish to me so I pronounce them that way…other times I pronounce them in the english way. I still argue that Sabre shouldn’t be pronounced as ‘saber’ but Nathan disagrees haha. But the point is that cultures are integrating into our normative,white society so even t.v. programs discuss these issues. It’s amazing and great…at least IMO…(IMO=in my opinion)

Lastly, I’ll post pics of my grandma making her sweet potatoes, my grandpa playing his Wii, my vegan pie, and my awesome kitchen.

Love this song.

This song reminds me of MJ. We should all remember him.